Democratic United State Senator Claire McCaskill introduced legislation this week that would prevent senior citizens from being forced into poverty due to student loan debt.

McCaskill’s Protecting Seniors with Student Loans Act would increase social security benefits protected from the Department of Education garnishment from the $750 monthly limit enacted in 1996 to $1,183.

This would ensure that when the government recoups defaulted student loans, it does not put seniors below the federal poverty line.